Saoirse Ronan says Bond rumours take back seat to dog walks and dinner
Saoirse Ronan is not fuelling rumours that her husband Jack Lowden will be the next James Bond. Asked about the speculation, she said casting talk is "not really a subject that's coming up in our house."
"The dog needs to be walked, the dinner needs to be made," Ronan told the Associated Press, in remarks reported by The Hollywood Reporter on 6 October 2026. "We have plenty of other things to be dealing with," she added. She declined to confirm or deny anything, calling the Bond decision "its own thing."
The rumour began with Gary Oldman, Lowden's co-star in Slow Horses, the Apple TV spy series. Oldman told Canada's The Morning Show that Lowden had been rumoured for a place on the Bond shortlist, a small group of final contenders, and that producers "have made their choice" without announcing it. Ronan laughed it off. "He thinks he's James Bond," she said of Oldman.
Oldman later tempered that claim. Speaking on 10 September on a Visionaries panel at the Toronto International Film Festival, he said he knew of a six-person shortlist but did not know who would play 007.
That wait is familiar. Daniel Craig left the role in 2021, and Bond, the long-running film series about British spy 007, has been without a new lead since. Amazon MGM took full creative control of the character and its rights in February 2025. Denis Villeneuve is set to direct the next film, with Steven Knight writing the script, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Names linked in rumours include Callum Turner, Jacob Elordi, Tom Holland, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Harris Dickinson and Lowden. Amazon has not announced any casting decision.
Lowden is busy elsewhere. Slow Horses is currently airing its sixth season on Apple TV. Ronan said he is "having a good time" filming new episodes.
Ronan has her own Bond ambition. She has said she is "dead serious" about playing a villain and told Empire she wanted to be involved in the next film, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter. "I want to go dark," she said.
Ronan and Lowden married after co-starring in Mary Queen of Scots. They have a child together.
For fans watching the Bond race, this means no confirmation and no denial. Just dog walks, dinner and, for now, silence from the studio.
